The invention is directed to the communication field, particularly to the assembly of billing information associated with the provision of the identity of a telephone caller. One of the telephone services available is caller identification or caller ID whereby a recipient of a telephone call may learn the identity of the caller prior to taking the telephone call, thereby permitting the recipient having a telephone with a display to avoid conversations with unwanted callers.
The identity of the caller is associated with the telephone call during establishment of the connection between the caller and the call recipient. Currently, Signaling System #7, or SS7, is the control protocol used to coordinate the handling of a telephone call. Upon entry of the called number, an available trunk line between the calling and called telephone is reserved for the voice communications and a separate route between the calling and called telephones is established for the interchange of control information. Control information may include confirmation of receiver uptake and receiver hangup and direction for delivery of a calling ring or a busy signal. The control information passes between service switching points (SSPs) via one or more signal transfer points (STPs) in the form of packets. One SSP is connected to the calling telephone and the other SSP to the called or receiving telephone. Service control points (SCPs) connected to the STPs provide access to data bases that may include telephone numbers correlated with customer names.
Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, providers of telecommunication services are divided into several groups. Local exchange carriers (LECs) are independent telephone service providers that offer local telephone service to telephone customers in a specific geographic area. A LEC is usually a local telephone company. Incumbent local exchange companies (ILECs) existed prior to the Act and had co-existed with LECs owned by the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) entered local areas after the Act and compete with ILECs.
One purpose of the Act was expansion of the numbers of service providers available to telephone customers by encouragement of formation of additional CLECs. To this end, the Act requires ILECs to provide to CLECs at wholesale rates access to unbundled network element platforms (UNE-Ps), such as local loops, switch ports, and dedicated common transport facilities owned by the ILECs, thereby allowing ILEC telephone customers to switch or port their service to a CLEC.
Even though ported telephone customers receive service through a CLEC and are billed by the CLEC, the original ILEC sometimes continues to provide certain services associated with a telephone call. One example is caller ID service where a customer with a suitable telephone may learn the identity of a caller prior to accepting a telephone call. Although caller ID may refer to identification of a caller telephone number, caller ID here refers to identification of a caller name.
The ILEC, and not the CLEC, may have access to data bases associating the caller telephone number with the caller's name. For the ILEC to be compensated for caller ID data base searches, calls associated with caller ID requests by ported ILEC telephone customers need to be identified and billed to the correct CLEC. As an individual ILEC may have UNE-P relationships with several CLECs and be associated with a large number of calls, proper billing is a formidable task.
In view of the above difficulties, there is a need for a method and system of associating caller ID queries with the parties responsible for their payment.